Sep 6, 2022
ODD & Engine Creative merge to form House 337
On Monday 5th September, 2 of our brands, ODD and Engine Creative, officially merged to form House 337, "a collective that believes creativity can make tomorrow better than today for our people, for our clients' brands and for society."
ODD, a creative agency specialising in fashion and lifestyle brands, was bought by Next 15 in 2015. Engine Creative was a division of Engine Group UK, which was bought by Next 15 earlier this year.
The new agency will be led by Phil Fearnley, who was appointed Chief Executive of ODD last October, and will operate as a collective with 377 founder employees.
The rest of the leadership team has been assembled from both agencies, alongside new recruits.
Matt Rhodes is the Chief Strategy Officer; Kate Kelsey is the Chief Financial Officer, joining from Accenture Song; Charlie Hurrell takes on the role of Chief Client Officer; and Tayo Arewa is Head of People.
Featuring non-fungible tokens (NFTs) awarded to each member of the collective, the design system is based on an alphabet of newly-created iconographs which can be put together in different combinations to create a unique ‘house key’. Each expression of the H icon is machine-generated from an online questionnaire completed by each House 337 member, resulting in the creation of their own key which they can keep forever, even after leaving the organisation.
House 337 CEO, Phil Fearnley, explains, “When we set about building the House 337 brand, we wanted to create an organisation that truly values the contribution of each member of the collective. We think our unique corporate design solution reflects these aims, giving each individual ownership of their role and a key to access all the relevant areas of the agency.
“NFTs are just one way of creating this sense of ownership and of harnessing the power of all, helping also to ensure everyone feels valued members of our collective. What’s more, this machine-readable code will, over time, unlock new functionality, including innovative ways for members to get to know each other better.”
Looking ahead, the business plans to build on its experience in advertising, communications and brand consulting, while also expanding its experience design and communities as well as its content offerings. It is also launching a new product innovation service.